Cool philosophical interviews with artists
https://www.creativeprocess.info/interviews-page-1/
What’s Your Best Advice For Getting Yourself Out Of A Creative Slump?
I would question if the work you’re doing is fun and exciting. When you get that buzz of excitement from an idea that’s the thought you want to hold onto while you’re creating the work. If no ideas or inspiration are coming through, chances are you’re standing in your own way by having fear based thoughts. These could be around money, around a deadline, around not creating the ‘perfect’ or ‘right’ piece, the fear of acknowledging a creative slump and worrying how and if you’ll get out.
So, what I try and do is take a step back and loosen the reigns. Ask yourself what’s the worst that can happen? I say to myself “You’re okay, you’ve got this far in life already.”
I start reaching for a thought that feels better, like “I’ve created before, I’ll do it again, it’s okay if it’s not today.”
Another good tip is to ‘Fill the well’ as quoted in ‘the artists way’. This is a fabulous book by Julia Cameron. It’s good to work through as a series of exercises, or just dip in and out of.
Remember to look at everything. Look at poetry, photography, nature, listen to a conversation, anything that stimulates that flutter of intrigue.
Allow yourself to feel lighter, more playful. That’s when the ideas can flow in. Do something for you, that’s fun. Don’t feel guilty if it’s extravagant. Give yourself permission and whole heartedly enjoy it. An idea may pop into your mind when you’re not expecting it.
https://www.kerrybeall.com/journal/2018/3/17/interview-on-the-creative-process
Noteworthy, a new video documentary series from NPR Music, spends a day with a musician to understand the real work that goes into the creative process: how they get ideas for melodies and lyrics, the places and people that inspire them.
Jason King: The idea for Noteworthy was to go a lot deeper than the traditional sort of junket or press conference where you might talk to an artist — to actually talk to musicians in their home cities, where they feel connected to their creativity.
So for instance, we hopped on a plane and went to visit Anthony Hamilton in North Carolina: spent a full day with him visiting his childhood home, going to the barbershop where he first learned to develop his work ethic. We got on a plane to Los Angeles to meet with Miguel at his beachfront home, which is a kind of sanctuary for him, where he clears his head to be creative. So we were able to take those kinds of trips that allowed us to connect directly to the creativity of these music superstars.
Several of the artists that you’ve interviewed are known for being perfectionists, for doing a lot of writing or production themselves. When you spoke with Alicia Keys, she talked about what it was like to really learn to collaborate.
“Now I’ve learned that you try to control things too much and you miss the magic. So that’s just been an evolution and a process. But I had to control it at the beginning, I feel, because I wouldn’t have been even given a chance, and I don’t think I would have made the music that I’m still proud today to play.” —Alicia Keys in Noteworthy
So in that interview I did with Alicia Keys, she talked about how, as a teenager, she had a record deal where she was forced to conform to this musical identity that didn’t fit her. And so, given that, she tried to become a micromanager and control every aspect of her music. But over time, she had to learn how to collaborate. Even this new record that she’s about to release, she’s relied on a trusted team of collaborators, including her husband, producer Swizz Beatz.
Alicia actually sat down at her custom-crafted piano and performed for us a new song that’s from her forthcoming album called “Hallelujah.” … It was astonishing to watch, and one of the things that I was really excited about was to see her, even before the performance, start to work out some of the chords and basically practice in front of us. We’re trying to shine a light on the creative process, and it was great to be able to see her in her element.
It sometimes seems like these pop stars come out fully formed. What surprised you about the creative process for artists on this level?
One of the things that’s really surprising to me about these interviews is to really talk with musicians about all the unseen, unaccounted-for hours and labor that actually goes into making a hit album or hit song. There’s times when the process of making music is really intuitive for an artist; it can happen really quickly, like lightning in a bottle. Actually, Miguel talked about how he wrote his Grammy-winning hit “Adorn” in 30 minutes. But generally, creating a hit song or hit record is more like what Quincy Jones would have said: It’s like painting a 747 with a toothbrush. It takes a lot of detail, a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of unseen hours.
https://www.npr.org/series/487480008/noteworthy
https://www.npr.org/2016/08/17/490349927/zooming-in-on-the-creative-process-one-artist-at-a-time
https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/gyw399/why-some-people-are-more-creative-than-others
https://idealog.co.nz/casestudies/idealogs-most-creative-people-our-winners#foodbeverage
vcd 2019 